Donor supports major technology projects

Aided by a major gift from an alumnus and longtime university supporter, UW–Madison will launch a campuswide network technology upgrade and open a first-of-its-kind Internet laboratory, known as the Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory (WAIL).

Both projects are made possible by substantial gifts from Cisco Systems Chair John Morgridge through his TOSA Foundation. The TOSA Foundation will provide equipment valued at approximately $10.8 million for the two projects.

“We are proud to be associated with the university on these two projects,” Morgridge says. “We hope this relationship will have a profound impact on campuswide learning and research, as well as specific areas of research in the Computer Science Department.”

UW–Madison Chancellor John Wiley credits the gifts with filling significant needs in the university’s technology infrastructure.

“Through the network upgrade and the advent of WAIL, I am confident that UW–Madison will be well positioned, not only to function effectively in the 21st century, but to lead in the advancement of Internet studies,” Wiley says.

University-wide technology upgrade
The five-year technology upgrade will make UW–Madison’s computer network one of the fastest, most reliable and most secure campus-based networks in the country, greatly enhancing the campus community’s ability to transmit large amounts of information.

The TOSA Foundation’s gift for the campus network portion is valued at $7.3 million, which will complement a university expenditure for network equipment of about $14.7 million over five years.

“Like many other Cisco employees who have used our educational donation program, it’s an honor to be able to make a contribution to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which has meant so much to me through the years,” Morgridge says. “The combined power of education and technology, especially the Internet, can have a profound impact on improving individual lives and learning environments. We’re very excited about the opportunities this will offer UW–Madison students,” he adds.

Madison-based Inacom Information Systems is the state-contracted supplier selected by the university to provide Cisco products, as well as project-management expertise and additional consulting services as needed. As part of the network upgrade, Cisco will also contribute focused technical engineering and operational support.

“An upgrade has been a long-range goal for the university. However the gift dramatically speeds up the timeline for implementing the changes,” says Ann Stunden, director of the Division of Information Technology. “It allows us to obtain more advanced technology than we might otherwise have been able to afford. When this technology is implemented, we will have one of the fastest campus-based networks in the country, a real benefit to our research community.”

A majority of the network electronics will be installed during the first three years. Wiring and fiber optics upgrades will be done during all five years. As the network moves toward completion, it will:

• Provide faster connections.
• Ensure smooth presentation of streaming media by handling video, audio and data traffic more efficiently.
• Guarantee service quality for critical traffic, including a self-healing capability that automatically reroutes traffic during network outages.

The network will also offer better security by protecting against inappropriate access.

Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory
The second project is the Wisconsin Advanced Internet Laboratory, which is being started with an equipment donation from Morgridge and Cisco valued at about $3.5 million. WAIL is a revolutionary, first-of-its-kind facility that allows researchers to recreate significant portions of the Internet in a lab setting, allowing them to test and evaluate new technologies in a controlled environment.

The lab has been designed and developed by a team consisting of personnel from the Department of Computer Sciences and the Division of Information Technology on the UW–Madison campus and Cisco.

WAIL will enable researchers to address a wide array of networking problems including performance, management and security in a way that has not been possible in the past, says Paul Barford, professor of computer sciences and WAIL director.

The lab’s equipment is remarkably powerful, Barford says. In terms of computing power, the lab alone could power a large Internet service provider (ISP), or “easily” handle the traffic of the entire campus network.

“The best analogy for WAIL is that it will be used to recreate network conditions in much the same way that wind tunnels are used to recreate wind conditions,” he says. “Our ability to precisely measure and evaluate slices of the Internet in this environment will be unprecedented.”